Mice. What's the deal

[moe1965 737]

I moved one of my tractors to a out building for about  a month and started it up today and paper and straw confetti came out from under the hood.   The mice made a nest in the shroud  this is not the first tractor or engine I have experienced this.  What's the deal there are much better places to make a home I put out traps and catch quite a few over the winter months.   So what are some of your tricks and tips to catch these buggers....   

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,314]

17 minutes ago, moe1965 said:

So what are some of your tricks and tips to catch these buggers....   

 
Gave up on traps…I use Tomcat poison blocks in their supplied block holders. Have a couple in my shed and one on the side of my garage. I just replace the poison block whenever it’s been eaten or is almost completely eaten. 

[wallfish 16,994]

Under the engine shroud is the PERFECT place for them and probably the absolute most common place everyone on here has had an issue with at one time or another.
The only engine that sat out in the back that didn't get a mouse nest had a small garter snake molt in it. Just the skin

[wallfish 16,994]

Best to pull the shroud and clean that out because if there's enough kr app in there, it can block enough air flow to overheat the engine

[pfrederi 17,719]

Last mouse built her nest next to the bag of mothballs.  Do not use dryer sheets.  My mouse used it in the nest got tangled in the bendix and ring gear ...locked the engine up tight...

[Ed Kennell 38,130]

 

Mixed with sugar and water.   Also works for ants.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Ed Kennell

[ebinmaine 67,417]

Agreed with all above. 

 

Mice are VERY difficult to predict as far as what works in one area versus another.

My parents in north central Massachusetts have decent luck with Bounce Brand dryer sheets but in my area they literally use them as bedding like noted by Paul.

 

We do not use poison here because we have too many predators and we don't want to damage them or kill them.  

 

We've had reasonable luck with mouse traps of various types using peanut butter for bait.

 

Sometimes though, we have a good year for rodent production and they just go out of control.

 

During those times I have resorted to using sticky paper that's tacked down somewhere.

I try to avoid using that because there's a couple things that bother me quite a bit about it.

I have no issue culling an animal when it needs to be done but I'm NOT fond of them sitting there starving or dehydrating to death for a few hours or days.

Eliminating a primary predator of the thing that you are trying to catch is a risk.  

Other animals get caught in those traps such as snakes.

We have no poisonous snakes in this area and in fact, don't have enough snakes at all. Glue traps need to be monitored so the wrong animals can be removed when needed.

[Wishin4a416 2,191]

I know some travel trailer folks use fresh cab and promote it. I have never used it.

[JoeM 7,873]

And it is just not machines in storage. My front end loader is run every two or three days a week. I have found nest in weight box and in the carb they we eating the green cleaner liner. i was trapping but now use the tom cat stuff. I had no issues until my neighbor killed the black snake that was hanging out. Dumb ass needs to move back to town.  

[Rob J. 1,941]

Set up a 5 gallon bucket and bait it with peanut butter. Thank me later. 

[ebinmaine 67,417]

1 hour ago, Rob J. said:

Set up a 5 gallon bucket and bait it with peanut butter. Thank me later. 

 

We do this for chipmunks. 

Works good. 

 

Rare that we get a mouse in there but we use sunflower seeds both as bait and a water surface covering.  

[c-series don 8,687]

Mouse nest? In an engine? 🤣Yup ! When I bought this tractor I thought the engine was locked up, upon further investigation this is what I found! The nest had the starter and flywheel bound up tight, and had started to eat away at the block. It took a few months for the smell of mouse piss to go away.